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Blarney Castle

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Blarney Castle, County Cork, and the magic Blarney Stone with its traditional power of conferring eloquence on those who kiss it are among the most famous of Irish landmarks.

The word "Blarney" is supposed to have originated in the dealings of Queen Elizabeth’s government with the then Lord of Blarney, Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy. Repeatedly her deputy, Carew asked him, to renounce the traditional system by which Irish clans elected their chief. While seeming to agree to this proposal, he put off the fulfillment of his promise from day to day "with fair words and soft speech". The deputy, Carew, became the laughing stock of the Queen and she declared "this is all Blarney, what he says he never means." Thus Blarney came to mean pleasant talk intended to deceive without offending.